Ani DiFranco - Hello Birmingham

Hold me down I am floating away Into the overcast skies Over my home town On election day

What is it about Birmingham? What is it about buffalo? Did the hate filled wanna build bunkers In your beautiful red earth They want to build them In our shiny white snow

Now I've drawn closed the curtain In this little booth where the truth has no place to stand And I am feeling oh so powerless In this stupid booth with this useless Little lever in my hand And outside my city is bracing For the next killing thing Standing by the bridge and praying For the next doctor Martin Luther King

It was just one shot Through the kitchen window It was just two miles from here If you fly like a crow A bullet came to visit a doctor In his one safe place A bullet ensuring the right to life Whizzed past his kid and his wife And knocked his glasses Right off of his face

And the blood poured off the pulpit Yeah the blood poured down the picket lines Yeah, the hatred was immediate And the vengence was divine So they went and stuffed god Down the barrel of a gun And after him They stuffed his only son

Hello birmingham It's buffalo I heard you had some trouble Down there again And I'm just calling to let to know That someone understands

I was once escorted Through the doors of a clinic By a man in a bulletproof vest And no bombs went off that day So I am still here to say Birmingham I'm wishing you all of my best Oh Birmingham I'm wishing you all of my best Oh Birmingham I'm wishing you all of my best on this election day